Emerson Wilmore was an exemplary Ravenclaw student, known for her unwavering dedication to academics and an unyielding moral compass. However, things took a twisted and deviated turn in her life after her boyfriend, Cedric Diggory, was murdered by L...
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The rest of Transfiguration passed in a blur that Emerson couldn't quite piece together afterward.
She remained in her seat, her quill moving when it was supposed to and her eyes fixed on Professor McGonagall as she demonstrated the intricacies of advanced human transfiguration, but none of it truly sank in. The neat lines of her notes meant nothing when her mind kept circling back to the same moment before over and over again.
Before he left, Mattheo's expression wasn't one of panic. That would've been easier to understand. Somehow however, his eerie calmness made it worse. If he wasn't worried, then maybe she should be.
It was strange, she realised distantly, how quickly absence began to feel wrong. For a few weeks now, she was used to distance, pretending he did not exist beyond cold remarks and fleeting glances. Now, even a single lesson without him felt like something was pulled too tight inside her.
Emerson forced herself to stay still as Transfiguration continued, even when the empty space where Mattheo was sitting felt louder than anything else in the room. Theo's usual presence beside him was gone too, and Enzo's absence left a strange, unnatural quiet in their row that made everything feel slightly off-balance.
Beside her, Olivia shifted once, glancing toward the door before leaning closer. "They'll be fine," She whispered, like she was trying to convince both of them. "If it was serious, we would've heard something already."
Fine didn't feel like the right word, not when nothing about this year was fine.
Emerson nodded, but the motion was automatic. "Snape doesn't do 'not serious,' Liv," She whispered, her eyes trained on McGonagall.
Olivia exhaled at that. "Teddy can handle himself. And Mattheo..." She hesitated, then gave Emerson a knowing look. "Mattheo's not exactly easy to intimidate."
That earned the faintest smile from Emerson, though it didn't quite reach her eyes.
"No," She murmured. "He's not."
Still, the worry didn't ease. It followed her through the rest of the morning like a shadow. Every passing minute without him returning to the classroom made it worse, her mind filling in the silence with possibilities she didn't want to entertain.
By the time the bell rang, the tension hadn't eased. It simply settled and followed her out of the classroom and into the corridors like a shadow she couldn't shake on the way to the Great Hall.
There was no sign of them outside the classroom either, which worried her more. Emerson knew that Mattheo always seemed to find her, even when he wasn't supposed to.
